The Nightmare Before Midwinter
by Cookie Master's Apprentice
Summary: It was a joy ride, that's all. It was a present from Toothless to the now-fourteen Hiccup. But then the blizzard wiped all that away. Now trapped on a strange island and seperated, they'll have to survive on their own until they can find each other again.


_I know, I know, I have two other stories I've promised to update, but I just saw this epic picture on deviantArt dot com and couldn't help it. This fanfiction is based on the picture. I'll give you the link in my profile. Go and check it out._

_Disclaimer: The name Bluebell belongs to an author named Enchantable. The general plot belongs to a person on deviantArt with the nickname element-crystal, the picture the story is based off of belongs to another person on deviantArt called Luna133, and How to Train Your Dragon belongs to Dreamworks. All but the last had been asked for permission by me and had given an affirmative._

_...Hold on. So what is mine?_

**Celebration**

This is Berk. It is a Viking village in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by sea and set on an island. It snows nine months of the year and, sadly, hails the other three. Nothing really edible grows on the island. The foods that do grow are tough and tasteless. The folks that inhabited the isle is even more so. Needless to say, they are the kind of people that was born to bash dragons' brains inside out.

This is Berk. Where the sky is never empty.

Indeed, Berk's sky is always filled with dragons.

As of now, though, most of the streets were empty. Even the guard towers that surrounded the village were not being manned, although Hideous Zipplebacks and Monstrous Nightmares slept near them, looking out for their humans. It was a night of celebration after all, and since tomorrow would probably be an island-wide sleep-in by Vikings with bad hangovers, the dragons had made a secret promise to eat twice as much for next week.

Despite the rather quiet atmosphere around Berk as a whole, there was one building in town that was absolute bursting with partying Vikings of all ages (even the tiny ones – they were prohibited from ale, though). It was the Town Hall.

Inside was a picture of typical Viking parties: the old men wrestling, the wives generally bragging about their kids and their progress in training or about their kid's new stray dragon that'd decided to follow him or her home and how the beast was making a mess. All of them were told in joking tones, though. Dragons are affectionate beings, and they know how to right their wrongs and make people forgive. Generally.

The teenagers anywhere from age ten to seventeen stood in bundles together, sharing tales of their new dragons and bragging about them, too. It would often end in some sort of mild violence and two boys would wrestle each other to the first bone fracture. The adults didn't try much to stop them. They were, after all, Vikings.

"I really shouldn't have drank that," Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III groaned softly, holding his head. He had, on his friends' urge, tried to down two cups of ale and now his head was spinning. The chieftain's son had never been a big drinker, and after all, he was just fourteen. They all were about the same age, yet the others with the exception of Fishlegs can down at least three mugs of the horrible stuff called ale. Hiccup couldn't understand how they found the thing tasty and addicting. It was about as gross as eels.

Well, it was one of the only things Hiccup wasn't feeling envious toward his friends.

"Aw, c'mon, Hiccup," Tuffnut grinned, punching the kid's arm and leaving a lovely bruise. "Man up! This party's for you after all!"

"Yeah!" Snotlout and Ruffnut agreed, each with huge smiles on their faces and a cup of ale in each of their hands. The tough boy immediately brought one to his lips and drank loudly. Ruffnut copied, although she took smaller gulps. Fishlegs had a mug, too, but he wasn't drinking it.

"The party is to celebrate the treaty between us and the dragons," Hiccup pointed out, still massaging his temples. "It's not for me."

Astrid smiled at this and punched his other arm. "Hey, now, it _is_ your birthday, isn't it?" she asked. "You're born at the beginning of winter, aren't you?"

Fishlegs blinked. "Oh, yeah, that's right!" he exclaimed. "It _is_ your birthday! You told me once!" And indeed Hiccup had, before Fishlegs was moved to the fire department and the rift between them grew larger. Now it was history. Nobody remembered. Well, except for Astrid.

Smiling, the blonde Viking girl picked up a bundle of clothe she'd brought with her and gave it to Hiccup. "Happy birthday," she said, her cheeks blushing slightly. "I…I made it myself. I hope you like it." Hiccup took hold of the bundle, his mouth opened slightly in surprise. This was the first year in his life he'd been given a real birthday present ever since his mother died.

"Ooh, romanti-i-i-i-c!" Tuffnut drawled. Thankful for the distraction, Astrid immediately yanked the mug out of Fishlegs' hands and launched it effortlessly at the boy, knocking him off his feet and reducing him to a groaning heap on the floor.

"I hope his nose isn't broken," Fishlegs remarked as he rounded the table to help the boy up. There was laughter from Snotlout and Ruffnut, but Astrid was looking at Hiccup, a hopeful look on his face as he slowly unfolded the bundle.

It was a mantle, only reaching from his neck to about his elbows, but it was made of warm bearskin and fur. It was high-collared, though, and would sure to keep him safe from the cold. The fur was soft and comfy, and it was a dark brown. Two buttons, one at the base of his neck and the other higher up, would secure the mantle on later. Hiccup suddenly remembered hearing Astrid talk about a project she was working on some time before. So _this _was her project.

"Astrid," he said after several moments of silence, truly touched. "It's…beautiful. Thanks a lot. Really." Hiccup looked at his friend, a light in his eyes that made Astrid's heart became a bucking hysterical dragon. His smile was weightless and genuine, and her own eyes sparked with delight.

"You're welcome," she said, her voice suddenly a bit higher-pitched than it usually was. Astrid quickly gained control after mentally slapping herself. "I mean, I don't want you to die of hypothermia when flying with Toothless or anything. You're the only person around who really knows how to deal with the dragons, right?"

Hiccup's smile turned into a full-force grin. "Well, you guys are getting a lot better at doing that, too. Bluebell's gotten a real shine on you, didn't she?" he replied, bundling the mantle up in his arms. It was incredibly hot in the Town Hall, so there was really no need to wear it right then. He'd already taken off his vest.

Astrid nodded, smiling as she thought about her Nadder. "Yeah, she did. But she kept making holes in my house whenever my parents started yelling," the girl wrinkled her nose. Bluebell had reacted badly to the noises her parents made when calling Astrid. She first thought that the Nadder hated the noises, but Bluebell was perfectly happy living in the middle of a deafening village.

"Maybe she's protective of you," Hiccup suggested, raising a hand to fix the horned hat on his head. His migraine was going away, thank goodness. No more ale. "Toothless nearly torched the house, too, when he heard Dad yelling my name the few first weeks we lived together." The boy winced at the memories. Some char marks were still in their home. "They probably thought our parents are going to hurt us."

Well, Bluebell _had_ thrown a mighty fit when Astrid's father dropped that shield on his daughter's foot and he narrowly escaped death from spikes and fire that day. That would explain it, Astrid thought, nodding. So all she has to do is store away some extra fish or meat to calm Bluebell down after one of the accidents.

"So, er," Hiccup coughed slightly. "Thanks for the gift, Astrid. I really like it." He held up the new mantle and grinned, making the girl smile back. She was about to say something else, but was cut off by the booming voice of the chieftain.

"Good men and women of Berk!" Stoick the Vast roared. It brought immediate silence to the entire town hall and effectively woke Toothless, Fireworm, Horrorcow and the Zippleback outside up, making Lightstreak (the lightning-producing head) and Gasman (the other one) clonked their heads together. It started an odd chirping complaints war between the two, but was silenced simultaneously by the leftover dragons.

"This is a memorable day," the big man began. "This day last year, is the time when we faced the Dragon Queen together. This day last year is also the day we welcomed our winged reptile friends into Berk. This day last year, everything changed…for the better!"

Cheers erupted, and Hiccup found himself grinning. Yes, that was true. They've fought, they've seen the truth, and they've conquered it. Now Berk must be the best Viking village anywhere in a seventy miles radius around here, not to mention they got lots of new friends and learned what "sky" really means.

Stoick raised his hand for silence. "And as you know," he said, his voice bursting with pride, "all this wouldn't have come to us if it wasn't thanks to one of our own. Hiccup, my son!" The chieftain walked over to where Hiccup was standing and put a powerful arm around his shoulder, shaking it rather violently, but the boy didn't care. The grin from before grew wider as he looked at the cheerful Viking faces around him, filled with admiration and acceptance.

"And let's not forget the other heroes who's helped in that battle as well," Stoick continued, looking at the five other teenagers next to his son, his eyes twinkling. "So, I say, a toast to the young heroes and their dragons!" he roared, raising his mug.

A wave of shouts erupted as every other Viking in the Town Hall raised their mugs as well and sounded the toast. Hiccup's chest puffed up, and he was pretty sure his friends' have, too. But first…

When the noises have died down, Hiccup said loudly, clear enough for everybody to hear, "And we wouldn't have been able to do it if not thanks for…" he gestured toward the double doors. The twins, getting his message, ran toward it and pulled them open.

Six pairs of reptile eyes, each of different colors, looked inside. "…our own dragons," Hiccup finished, and in his confidence high, picked up a mug nearby and raised it into the air. "So a toast to them, too!" he shouted, grinning like a madman.

The response was immediate. Once more, applauds in the form of bellows ricocheted off the stone walls of the Town Hall as the Vikings threw the toast to the dragons. As for the dragons themselves, they looked at each other for a moment before deciding that it was time. Jumping to their feet, they stomped inside, careful to avoid trampling any human.

"Yeah!" Snotlout yelled, raising his cup. "This party rocks, babe!"

"No kidding!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut agreed, and for once, didn't try to kill each other for saying the same thing at the same time. Instead, they bumped against each other good-naturedly and started a strange dance on the table and worked their way down, kicking some foods and drinks off on their way.

Snotlout grinned at them. "Looks fun," he remarked before joining them as well. That left Fishlegs, Hiccup and Astrid. The three of them gazed at the other trio of dancing weirdoes, exchanging glances. They continued to watch until the twins reached the end of the long table and made their way back up, nimbly dodging Snotlout.

Fishlegs looked hesitant for a moment, then decided it was worth it and smiled freely, jumping onto the bench and stepped onto the long table as well. The wood creaked under his weight, but it didn't give. He, too, made a free dance to the end of the furniture.

Hiccup looked after his friends and shook his head, although he was grinning. "I'll never get the lot of them," he said aloud.

Astrid gazed at him for a moment before a devious grin took over her face. She pulled the cup and mantle out of Hiccup's hands and set them on the table, then jumped onto the wooden bench and pulled her friend up by his wrist.

The Vikings around them cheered.

"C'mon, Dragon Boy!" she shouted, pulling him up onto the table. "Let's dance!" And with that, Astrid started their strange little way of celebration amidst the shouting Vikings.

Hiccup resisted feebly at first, but then gave in as he started going with the invisible tune, wooden leg or dignity forgotten. Smiling, the couple continued until they reached the end, and then started back up again. And again. And again. And again.

To be honest, Hiccup could never have asked for a better birthday.


End file.
